In geological exploration, large numbers of core samples are drilled from the earth to provide information concerning the earth's structure in the geological area concerned. Such a core sample may be of the order of 3000 feet in length and as it is withdrawn from the earth, it is collected in boxes so as to provide a permanent record of the earth's structure at that location.
In order to avoid transport of large number of core boxes, often in areas where there is no organized transportation, the boxes need to be stored on site for future record. It will be appreciated that after incurring the considerable expense of a core sample bore, it is highly desirable to ensure that the core sample is maintained for future study when future exploration is being carried out possibly for different reasons. The core samples are typically collected in 5 feet lengths in elongated boxes, often formed of wood or cardboard, each containing three such samples.
Racks for such boxes were traditionally been manufactured on site and are prone to twisting or warping thus, effectively locking the boxes in position in the racks. This of course renders the whole storage system totally useless since it prevents recovery of the boxes for future study without considerable effort to remove the warping. Furthermore, the manufacture of the racks on site has been a long and time consuming business with difficulty in assembling the racks initially in untwisted form and often in harsh climatic conditions.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,373 (Caron) issued Nov. 24, 1986 is disclosed a rack for storing elongate core sample boxes which is formed from three separate frames each having three uprights formed of timber, cross members of timber and a plurality of aluminum tubes extending across between the uprights and passing through bores in the uprights. Each junction between a tube and an upright is locked in position by a nail passing transversely to the tube through the upright. The frames can be transported in assembled form and then the rack completed by the application of end and top panel sheets of plywood or the like.